On my old Fazer I had installed a Stebel Nautilus air horn, a super loud horn that saved my bacon on a number of occasions on my daily commute into London. As such I was keen to install similar on my new FZ6, but with the Stebel horns less readily available in the UK I came across the Denali SoundBomb. On first glance it appears to be a spitting image of the Stebel horn and priced similarly at £40.

With the horn being such a large lump, mounting needed some thought as the FZ6 stock horn is mounted between the forks and there are no handy mounting points on the sides under the fairing. Denali sell a number of specific bike and generic crash bar mounting brackets, but unfortunately nowt suitable for the FZ6. Denali offer a ‘split’ version of the SoundBomb which separates the two halves of the air horn, thus allowing the compressor and horn elements to be mounted individually. A supplied thick heat resistant hose then connects the two halves. As with other large horns the compressor should be wired to the stock horn via a relay due to it’s 20A power draw. i.e. the stock horn wire triggers the compressor via a relay, to power it direct from battery on its own fused line.

Video review:

Key stats:

Size (Compressor): 11.4 x 7.4 x 3.6 cm

Size (Acoustic Unit): 10.4 x 9.4 x 8.6 cm

Power draw: 20A

Output: 120db at 1m

Compressor mounted under tank

In theory the installation should be straight forward, however locating suitable mounting points is always a bit of faff. On my FZ6 I finally opted to cable tying the compressor in the free space under the tank, then mounting the horn in the stock horn location. The think air hose was then fed along the inside of the frame and out through the frame hole near the yoke. This needed some stripping down of the air and battery boxes to gain access. With the horn mounted on the forks I needed take special care to ensure they still moved freely lock to lock and on full fork compression the horn didn’t hit the front fender. With some careful angling it all fit, just!

If you’re really stuck for space on your bike, Denali do a ‘Mini’ version of the SoundBomb which still puts out a fair bit of noise at 113dB. It also comes in a spot cheaper at around £25.

Relay wiring

Wiring wise, things were fairly straight forward. I ran a wired with spade from the original stock horn connection (to leave original wiring intact) back to a relay hidden by the compressor. Then it was just running live and earth lines from the battery. Thankfully, included instructions explained everything clearly. All in I spent an afternoon on this job, taking my time to solder quality spaded connections, arrange wiring and consume several cups of tea. Note BMW wiring adaptors kits are also available from Denali and it is CANBUS compatible.

your horn is supposed to alerting others of your presence. It’s not supposed to be used to retaliate when others anger you

By gum, was all the effort worth it, damn it is loud! It’s easy to forget the decibel scale is logarithmic i.e. doubling of volume every 10dB. Definitely makes a difference on the road to gets you noticed, the loud and distinct noise it makes really stands out and gives the impression of something much larger than a small motorcycle on the road. It is perfect to alert someone you spot trying to nose out of a blind junction, an headphone wearing pedestrian about to step out or a twitchy car on a traffic jam about to swap lanes as you filter; it really helps to alert others of your presence. And let’s clarify that, contrary to popular belief your horn is supposed to be for exactly that, alerting others of your presence. It’s not supposed to be used to retaliate when others anger you. And as an alert for other to pre-empt trouble. However, do be careful to not rely upon it, you can make all the noise in the world, but they’ll always be some dumb asses who will continue to cut you up regardless.

Horn mounted on forks

After having had the Denali SoundBomb fitted for several months, I’ve only hit a couple of minor issues. I had to tweak the angling of the horn slightly to avoid some fowling on the front mud guard when the forks fully compress. Secondly, I found the air hose connection on the horn loosened and popped off a couple of times. Probably not helped by the horn under constant movement on the forks and the hose needing to flex accordingly. A spot of Gorilla glue sorted that though.

Overall, for a not a lot of cash the SoundBomb is a life saver and one I highly recommend. I use it all the time in the big city, but it can also prove its worth when bombing along B-Roads and you spot someone about to pull out of a side road. It’s also raises a smile amongst mates and MOT testers too. Definitely an upgrade I’ll be installing on any bike I get in the future too.